We Didn’t Need a Poll, We Already Knew It: Mega Drive named “Best Retro Console”

Gaming site Playr2 recently polled 1,411 gamers, asking them to vote for the best retro console, and a whopping 61% chose the SEGA Mega Drive! Other SEGA consoles also made the top ten, including the Master System and the Game Gear. Unfortunately, our favorite underdog the Dreamcast did not make the list. Placing second was the Nintendo 64. If the NES and SNES were Nintendo 1 and Nintendo 2, whatever happened to Nintendo 3 through Nintendo 63? After the break, check out the full top ten and feel free to agree with me in the comments that the Mega Drive/Genesis is the best retro console of all time.

Binary Domain demo to hit on February 1st

For Japan at least, SEGA has announced through their Ryu Ga Gotoku Kamurocho radio station webcast that their up and coming third person squad-based shooter Binary Domain is going to have a demo available 16 days before the game’s release there (the Japanese release date is still set for February 16th). The demo itself promises to be fairly lengthy, with it featuring two stages, one set in the Shibuya’s Spain-zaka area in the lower city (The area featured in all demoes) and one in the Shinjuku train station-like area of the upper city.

It was confirmed though that the demo will only have single player support, and no confirmation of when a Western demo will debut, but it is the best indication that the title will have a demo released before launch over in America and Europe. Binary Domain is set for release in America and Europe on 28th February.

VF5: Final Showdown Contest – Name Your Opponent

Sega is offering up a contest for people who’d like to have some input in the upcoming game “Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown”  for X-Box LIVE and PSN. In the contest, you’ll be able to put a new name on your favorite fighter and even come up with his catchphrases which will then be put into the single player mode. There will be many chances to win and you can do as many submissions as you like! Read on for more details.

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Sonic the Hedeghog 4: Episode 1 now available on Android Marketplace

Don’t happen to own any of the hundreds of platforms that Sonic 4: Episode 1 has been released on thus far? Well fear not, because as of today, Droid users have the opportunity to download the first episode of Sonic 4 from the Android Marketplace for only $3.99.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, meanwhile, is looking increasingly likely for a release in the first half of this year if all goes well. Though if you haven’t played Episode 1 yet, I suppose for $3.99 you can’t go too wrong.

Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure Places Second in Media Create, Scores Well in Famitsu

I have become increasingly excited for SEGA’s upcoming 3DS rhythm game. Produced by Shun Nakamura, the same man who directed Samba De Amigo, the game features homages to both Samba de Amigo and Space Channel 5, and looks like a lot of fun going by all the videos we’ve seen. Of course, we won’t know anything about the game’s quality until we get to play it, but going by Famitsu’s review scores it may very well have the quality to match the games it homages.

Rhythm Thief and The Emperor’s Treasure (3DS) – 8/8/8/8

The game also sold decently in it’s debut week, placing second behind Mario Kart 7:

01./02. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 <RCE> (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} (¥4.800) – 35.105 / 1.404.728 (-33%)
02./00. [3DS] Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure <ACT> (Sega) {2012.01.19} (¥6.090) – 31.598 / NEW
03./03. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3G # <ACT> (Capcom) {2011.12.10} (¥5.800) – 31.369 / 1.159.866 (-30%)
04./04. [3DS] Super Mario 3D Land <ACT> (Nintendo) {2011.11.03} (¥4.800) – 26.051 / 1.265.491 (-35%)
05./00. [360] Onechanbara Z: Kagura <ACT> (D3 Publisher) {2012.01.19} (¥7.140) – 22.013 / NEW

Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure will launch in Europe on February 24th and in America on the 28th exclusively for 3DS. A demo on the eShop has also been confirmed for Europe.

Binary Domain – Assassination Attempt trailer

SEGA has released a 5 minute long trailer showing off more of the story that you will find in the full product. I have to say, even though I like the concept of the game, I do think that the English dub is a bit hard to swallow. Especially the dude that sounds oddly enough like Bill Clinton.

The trailer talks about hallow children, robots born thinking they are humans. Basically the plot twist for Terminator Salvation. Did I ruin the movie? Oops.

Tails getting his own collectible statue

If you saw the title and got a bit excited, you are probably a Tails fan. Hi, how are you doing? Good? Great. First things first, who is making the figure? First 4 Figures, they are known for doing other Sonic collectible statues. How much is it going to cost? A cool $199.99. Expensive yes, but it is 12 inches and only limited to 500 units. Did I mention it has two fully spinning tails and a mushrooms that pulse with light?

Its damn impressive, hit the jump to see a ton of pictures of the statue in action.

Valkyria Chronicles 2: World Artworks Book is coming to America

Valkyria Chronicles has some amazing art, so its good to see the Japanese artbooks get American releases. This is going to be the second Valkyria Chronicles artbook that publisher Udon has published in America. The first art book released had art from the first title, this new one is going to be based on the PSP sequel.

If you guys want to pre-order the art book, you can do so on Amazon. The book is listed for $31.24, with a release date of April 10th, 2012.

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SEGA’s Newest Studio is Hardlight

Thanks to a job listing, we now know the name of SEGA’s newest studio: Hardlight. The job posting for a programmer revealed a number of details. The studio is UK based, in Solihull, and will focus on developing “high quality and innovative experiences for both current and future platforms”. The first of these games is described as a “unique action adventure” for the Playstation Vita. Also revealed, Hardlight would be working closely with Sega R&D to “stay at the cutting edge of developments in technology, middleware and game experiences”.

It’s great to see SEGA growing and we wish Hardlight a bright future!

RUMOR: SEGA All-Stars Sequel/Remix in Development

Sonic Stadium has today received a news tip that there may, in fact, be another SEGA All-Stars game in development. Their tipster recently spoke to a high ranking member of Sumo Digital, who had this to say when querried about upcoming projects:

“Now working on another title for Sega on 3DS, VITA and WiiU. [The] title we are working on is top secret but the last game we did for them was Sonic And Sega All-Star Racing, so the logical conclusion would be… :)

An interesting, albeit cryptic little message, no? Sonic Stadium has been able to confirm the authenticity of the discussion and it’s source from Sumo Digital, lending considerable credibility to this rumor.

Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai – Story Trailer

Another great trailer for Fall of the Samurai, the stand alone expansion to last years Total War: Shogun 2. Fall of the Samurai takes place during a turbulent time in the history of Japan where outside influence from Dutch, American and other European nations were influencing the way battle was fraught. With Gatling guns and rifles War would never be the same again leaving the future of the Samurai looking bleak.

Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai will be available for PC in March.

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Binary Domain Developer Diary #2 – Meet the Rust Crew

Following on from the previous developer diary for Binary Domain, Destructoid has uploaded a second one, this time discussing the principle heroes of the game, the Rust Crew. This time Binary Domain’s script writer Tsuyoshi Furuta and art director Nobuaki Mitake take us through the various characters that make up the group and their various quirks (Such as the special ops humanoid machine Cain, who can hack into other robots) and their own personality traits be it their pride, Charlie, or their rationality, Big Bo. Click on the source link below to read the full developer diary and except many more in the coming weeks.

[Destructoid article: Meet the Rust Crew]

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